Brian Pugh: The Village of Croton Should Pay All Village Workers At Least The NYS Minimum Wage

The NY Minimum wage is currently $9/hr, but a loophole allows local governments to pay less. Croton can and should pay the NYS Minimum.

By Brian Pugh
Dear Neighbors:

At last Monday’s Village Board work session, Dr. Mayor Greg Schmidt and his Deputy Mayor Bob Anderson of the Croton United Party, opposed bringing the starting pay for Village workers up to the state minimum wage of $9 per hour.

At the start of this year, the NYS minimum wage increased to $9 (and will now gradually rise to $15/hour by 2021). The Village of Croton, as a local government is not required to pay the state minimum wage due to a loophole in state labor law.

Indeed, according to Village records, some Village workers were being paid as little as $8.25/hour as of June 2016. For comparison, the inflation-adjusted value of the 1970 minimum wage would be over $12/hour in current dollars.

Establishing a minimum wage for Village workers of $9/hr would cost the Village roughly $1,000. The Mayor and his Deputy Mayor insisted that this tiny sum would overburden on the Village treasury.

Yet, the Croton United Party majority was able and willing to find $5,000 in taxpayer dollars to pay their largest campaign donor as “reparations” for a claim that was denied by the Village’s insurance plan.

While we celebrate the dignity of all work this long weekend, I hope that the Mayor and his Deputy Mayor spend some time this Labor Day reflecting on the decisions they have made and the positions they have taken.